Dancing with Emptiness

"Of what is the body made?  It is made of emptiness and rhythm.  At the ultimate heart of the body, at the heart of the world, there is no solidity.  Once again, there is only the dance."
-   George Leonard

Six Illusions About the Body
By Larry Dossey, M.D.
1.  The body is solid.
2.  The body is stable.
3.  The body is individuated.
4.  The body belongs to the Earth.
5.  The body is stationary.
6.  The body is mindless.

"We are but whirlpools in a river of ever-flowing water.  We are not stuff that abides, put patterns that perpetuate themselves."
-  Norbet Weiner, 1950

"Improved perception of our somatic feelings not only gives us greater knowledge of ourselves but also enables greater somatic skill, facility, and range of movement that can afford our sensory organs greater scope in giving us knowledge of the world.  Besides augmenting our own possibilities of pleasure , such improved somatic functioning and awareness  can give us greater power in performing virtuous acts for the benefit of others, since all action somehow depends on the efficacy of our bodily instrument."
-  Richard Shusterman, Body Consciousness, 2008, p. 126.

Awakening Somatic Intelligence: The Art and Practice of Embodied Mindfulness.  By Risa F. Kaparo, Ph.D..  North Atlantic Books, 2012.  408 pages.  ISBN: 978-1583944172.  VSCL. 

Awareness Through Movement; Health Exercises for Personal Growth.  Easy to Do Health Exercises to Improve Your Posture, Vision, Imagination and Personal Awareness.  By Moshe Feldenkrais.  San Francisco, Harper Collins, 1972, 1977.  173 pages.  ISBN: 0062503227.  VSCL.     

Body Consciousness: A Philosophy of Mindfulness and Somaesthetics.  By Richard Shusterman.  New York, Cambridge University Press, 2008.  Index, bibliography, 239 pages.  ISBN: 9780521858908.  VSCL. 

Soma, Body, Somatics, Somatic Psychology and Philosophy: Quotations, Bibliography, Notes